Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×

Online ordering will be unavailable from 17:00 GMT on Friday, April 25 until 17:00 GMT on Sunday, April 27 due to maintenance. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Hostname: page-component-669899f699-chc8l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T17:27:00.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - ‘Feminist Spirituality’ as Lived Religion

from Part III - Asserting Agency in Socio-Political Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2025

By
Zilka Spahić Šiljak
Edited by
Masooda Bano
Masooda Bano
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

Zilka Spahić Šiljak utilizes the concept of ‘feminist religiosity’ to demonstrate how Islam plays a crucial role in shaping everyday struggles of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), enabling them to live in a more fulfilling way. The chapter highlights the influential role of Islamic spirituality, particularly Sufi traditions emphasizing love, care, and service, in empowering women to pursue feminist endeavours across various domains such as non-governmental organizations, media, and academia.

Keywords

Feminist religiositylived religionSufismspiritualityBosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Women and Islam , pp. 359 - 379
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Select Bibliography

Abazović, Dino. “Religious Nationalism in the Western Balkans.” In Religion and Neo-nationalism in Europe, ed. Höhne, Florian and Meireis, Torsten, 321–332. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ašćerić-Tod, Ines. Derwishes and Islam in Bosnia: Sufi Dimensions to the Formation of Bosnian Muslim Society. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aunne, Kristin. “Feminist Spirituality as Lived Religion: How UK Feminists Forge Religio-spiritual Lives.” In Secular Societies, Spiritual Selves?: The Gendered Triangle of Religion, Secularity and Spirituality, ed. Fedele, Anna and Knibbe, Kim E., 39–57. London, New York: Routledge, 2020.Google Scholar
Lerner, Gerda. The Creation of Feminist Consciousness from the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Majstorović, Danijela and Lassen, Inger, eds. Living with Patriarchy: Discursive Constructions of Gendered Subjects across Cultures. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malcolm, Noel. Bosnia: A Short History. London: Pen Books, 2002.Google Scholar
McGuire, Meredith B. Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ognjenović, Gorana and Jozelić, Jasna. Politicization of Religion, the Power of Symbolism: The Case of Former Yugoslavia and Its Successor States. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramet, Sabina, ed. Gender Politics in the Western Balkans: Women in Society in Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Successor States. Philadelphia: Penn State University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Redfern, Catherine and Aunne, Kristin. Reclaiming the F Word. London, New York: Zed Books, 2013.Google Scholar
Shakman Hurd, Elizabeth. Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015.Google Scholar
Spahić Šiljak, Zilka. Women, Religion and Politics: Impact Analysis of Interpretative Religious Heritage of Judaism, Christianity and Islam on the Engagement of Women in Public Life and Politics. Sarajevo: IMIC-CIPS-TPO, 2010.Google Scholar
Spahić Šiljak, Zilka “Women, Religion and Politics.” In Religion, the Secular, and the Politics of Sexual Difference, ed. Linell, E. Cady and Fessenden, Tracy, 121–136. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Spahić Šiljak, Zilka, ed. Contesting Female, Feminist and Muslim Identities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Sarajevo: Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies of the University of Sarajevo, 2012.Google Scholar
Spahić Šiljak, Zilka and Dino, Đipa. Gender Equality Barometer of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo: United Nations Development Programme, 2024.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×